Wounded(2)

A missing child to find, bring them home no matter what—what had seemed difficult at times in the past now looked straightforward. Almost easy compared to what loomed ahead of me.

Yet here I was, supposedly the only person who could save the world.

Something in me clicked into place. Saving the world would save more than one child; it would save many, many thousands. This was my fate; this was my place in the world.

This was what I’d been born for, even if it scared me worse than anything I’d ever faced. There was no greater cause than stopping Orion, no matter how much fear the task gave me.

Enough daydreaming of the past and how I wished things were as they’d been. We needed someone to lead, someone to pull the reins on this runaway carriage or we might as well give Orion our souls on silver and golden platters.

Fucking hell.

I’d already known, but still, a small part of me hoped Doran or someone would have stopped the hemorrhaging of this open wound, the council falling completely apart. Nope, looked like it was going to be me to pull this together.

“Are you all about done with your pissing and moaning?” I barely raised my voice. Didn’t yell, didn’t scream. Booyah for me, acting all calm and cool. Leaderly-like, even.

The silence that dropped over the outside courtyard was more than a little cool. It was downright icy. Or that could have just been the late January wind whipping through and around us, teasing at the spray of water over the koi pond. Everything stilled, zombies included.

Ogres, vampires, necromancers, witches and werewolves, and unicorn. All turned to me, and more than one was a little … ticked.

Blaz’s voice whispered through my mind, and I stared at him on the edge of the courtyard, his eyes on mine. They are afraid. Be careful not to drive them away, Rylee. Orion has planted the seed of fear well and it grows with a violence that will cut down those in front of it.

The dragon was on point, of course, and I knew they were afraid. Could almost smell it, even though I was no shapeshifter.

They were not the only ones who thought facing down demons called “the four horsemen of the apocalypse” was a very bad idea.

Yeah, if I were a betting gal, I wouldn’t bet on us, either.

I lifted one hand, palm up, and wiggled my fingers at them. “Look, this is what Orion wants. He wants us fractured and freaking the hell out, because he knows if we are too busy fighting each other, he can swoop in and kick all of our asses. So everyone calm the fuck down.”

Liam hadn’t move from his position behind me. Nor had Pamela or Alex shifted away from me. Okay, Alex as making faces at the crowd, his long tongue flapping at them, but he stood by me. My heart swelled. Even if everyone else walked in that moment, I wouldn’t see this through alone. I had my family.

Nikko, the black unicorn was the first to nod, his voice projecting much like Blaz’s, inside all our heads at once.

You are right, of course. There is no sense in fighting one another. We will do the demon’s job for him if we kill each other now. I will listen to what you have to say, Tracker. We have promised our help, and we will stand by our word. He lowered himself to the ground, then tucked his legs underneath his body, his golden horn glinting even in the starlight.

One by one, each of those in the council found a seat or at least put their weapons away. On each of them I saw tightened lips, narrowed eyes, twitching muscles, sweat-dripping skin in the cold winter night air—marks of fear. I wasn’t sure I could convince them all to stay, and we desperately needed them to stay.

Without the numbers, I wasn’t sure we would have any way of stopping Orion and his demon hordes. Because even if it came down to me and Orion, one on one, I was pretty sure I would have to battle through his demons to get to him. Or at least, I was assuming.

Doran and Berget stood side by side, unmoving, looking as if they hadn’t just been ready to toss everyone out. This was, after all, Doran’s place we’d invaded. I wouldn’t blame him. But he looked at me and gave me a slight nod of encouragement.

I stood, felt the world sway, and locked my knees. Fuck me if I was going to pass out in front of all these powerful supernaturals.

First thing’s first.

“Faris, tell us exactly what you saw.” I paused and fought to say the next word without a hint of sarcasm. “Please.”

Faris pushed himself away from a shadow that held tight against the house, his eyes flicking to Thomas, then back to me. He didn’t cradle the stub of his missing arm, though his good hand twitched as though he’d like to. “I went, at Doran’s bidding, to check on the state of the castle. We wanted to know for sure that all the doorways were indeed destroyed and there was no way through those left into the human world.”